A 37-year-old Czech woman has been sentenced to life in prison for
murdering her four children. The Regional Court in Hradec Králové, in
eastern Bohemia, on Friday rejected the woman’s claim she suffered from
memory loss, and convicted her of the murders. She became the fourth woman
to receive a life sentence since the fall of communism in the country. But
the woman collapsed during the reading of the verdict and the court will
now decide whether the defendant will be brought to court again.

The house in Široký Důl, source: Czech Television
The terrible incident that shocked the country took place last September in
the community of Široký Důl, in eastern Bohemia, some 130 kilometres
east of Prague. On Friday, September 2, the woman’s partner called
paramedics to their house where they discovered the bodies of the victims
– two boys, aged two and eight, and two girls, aged five years and two
months. Three of them were stabbed to death, one was strangled.

The woman attempted suicide, and was taken to hospital in critical
condition. The couple had only moved into the village a week before the
tragedy; three of the four victims were from different fathers. The police
questioned the women the next day, and two days after the tragedy charged
her with murder on the basis of evidence from the crime scene and medical
analysis.

Photo: CTK
The woman claimed that she suffered from a severe memory loss and that she
could not recall any details from her life. But earlier this year, she was
declared sane and able to stand trial which began in April. The prosecution
demanded the life sentence while the woman’s attorney suggested that all
charges be dropped due to lack of evidence.

The court heard testimonies of a psychologist and a psychiatrist who
examined the woman and told the court they found no signs that she was
suffering from a mental disorder. Psychiatrist Petr Stožický said her
motivation was not to hurt the children but to escape her problems, as she
manifested in the past when she frequently changed partners, moved from one
place to another and sometimes stopped communicating with her friends and
relatives. The experts said the woman was only feigning a loss of memory,
and described the murders as “extended suicide”.

In her testimony in the court, the 37-year-old defendant repeated her
claims and said she had no memory of the children or her partner, and that
she could not imagine hurting her children. But on Friday, Judge Miroslav
Mjartan said there was clear evidence she committed the murders although
she might be trying to suppress her memories of it. Taking into account the
brutality of the crime and the fact that the woman abused the trust her
children had in her, the court sentenced her to life in prison. Judge
Mjartan argued the court had no other option but to hand her life sentence
as the case was absolutely extraordinary, adding he hoped something like
that won’t happen again.

The woman collapsed during the reading of the verdict, and was taken to
hospital. The judge therefore suspended the session, and will determine
whether all parties will be summoned to the court again to be able to
appeal the verdict, or whether the verdict will be delivered to them in
writing. The woman’s attorney later told reporters he was planning to
file an appeal.